News of the Day: 19 December 2021

RFE/RL: A Russian court has handed a three-year suspended sentence to Yury Zhdanov, the father of Ivan Zhdanov, a close associate of jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, in a corruption case critics say is politically motivated. Zhdanov, who spent several months in pretrial detention, was released from custody after sentencing, his lawyer, Vladimir Voronin, announced on Twitter on December 19.

RFE/RL: “Officially in Russia there are about 60 regions where the base pay of a teacher is less than the legal minimum wage (MROT),” said Daniil Ken, chairman of the independent Alliance of Teachers union. “You can find figures of 5,500 to 6,500 rubles ($75 to $88).”

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